Nobel laureate poet Derek Walcott dies in St. Lucia

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, March 17 (Reuters) - Poet Derek Walcott, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992, died at his home in St. Lucia on Friday aged 87, a spokesman for his publisher said.

Jeff Seroy, a spokesman for publisher Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, said St. Lucia-born Walcott died shortly after 5 a.m. on Friday. The cause of death was not immediately known, but Seroy said Walcott had been ill for some time and had recently returned home from a hospital stay.

His longtime companion, Sigrid Nama, was with him at the time of his death, Seroy said. (Reporting by Sarah Peter in Castries and Joseph Ax in New York)